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We’ve already got #1, the human known only as The Voice of Telos, but who are the other twelve?

Let’s start small and count backwards, working up from #13.

EDIT: JOB FINISHED! Thank you to all who participated. But, we're not done! Please read through this thread to find out lots more community created information about the Warlock Knights. Much good stuff for Realms DMs and players to be found here!

Here is a link to the Warlock Knights of Vaasa preview, for those who don’t own the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book and so may not know about the Warlock Knights and the Vindicators of the Ironfell Council.

Here are the names (with links) to each of the council members. Good job everyone!

Called The Grinder by those he leads and simply "Madman" by those wise enough to whisper it, Ivor Chernin is the thirteenth member of the Ironfell Council and marshal of its monstrous armies.

Possessed of an intense fanaticism and burning desire to wreak havoc and destruction on whomever the Voice of Telos wills it, Ivor Chernin maintains absolute control over a cadre of loyal felthanes who oversee his lands and holdings along the western edge of the Galena Mountains.

It is on these lands that the most vicious and predatory humanoids that make up Vaasa’s armies are bred and trained for battle. Here Ivor keeps all manner of orc, hobgoblin, ogre and worse, ever bent on creating an unstoppable killing horde that will one day wreak bloody slaughter on the faithless lands surrounding great and glorious Vaasa so that all are brought under the heel of the Voice of Telos.

Even by the ruthless standards of the Warlock Knights, Ivor Chernin is considered an overzealous fanatic. The other Vindicators who make up the Ironfell council take pains not to offend or give the least slight to the Voice of Telos in Chernin’s presence, lest the Voice should take offense and once again command his most loyal servant to overrun the lands of one of the council’s number.

By the will of the Voice, such tests of the battle-readiness of the forces under Ivor's control have brought swift and brutal change to the makeup of the Ironfell Council in the past.

The Grinder stands forever ready to test the mettle of his forces against any foe, within Vaasa or without.

To the members of the Ironfell Council little is known of the spymaster Lishkah Ehravic. According to reports he was born and raised in a small village about a days march south of Dellhalls. He spent the first 30 years of his life in relative obscurity. When a harsh winter and savage orcs wiped out the rest of his village he traveled to Telos City to swear his pact and join the ranks of the Warlock Knights. This is all his peers know of him and every word of it is a lie.

The man known as Lishkah Ehravic was discovered by a pair of prospectors in a partially collapsed cave in the Galena mountains. He was unconscious in some sort of crystal alcove. When the prospectors entered they set of a ward, releasing him. He told them that he was a powerful wizard, and that if they helped him back to civilization they would be rewarded handsomely. He quizzed them incessantly as they traveled. He was concerned as he had no access to his arcane powers. That night he learned of the spellplague, and of the Warlock Knights. That night he cut his companions throats as they slept, gathered what weapons and gold they had and set off for Telos City under a false name, seeing the Knights as a convenient path to power.

His rise through the ranks of the Warlock Knights was meteoric. He was a natural manipulator who often tricked his rivals into eliminating each other, leaving him to seize their power for himself. He amassed a web of contacts and spies stretching to every corner of Vaasa. He used this network to gather information while he sought out arcane secrets and forbidden knowledge.

Just 5 years after swearing his pact, he had risen to the rank of Vindicator and was serving directly under Kurol Steelmace, a member of the Ironfell council known for his paranoia. It was a small matter to convince Kurol of a plot to assassinate him. When Kurol was killed making a preemptive strike against the two Councilors he (wrongly) thought were plotting against him, Lishkah Ehravic took his place at the council.

The first is the aquisition of knowledge. He had many enemies before the Spellplague, the possibility that some of them may yet live to thwart his machinations vexes him constantly. He also has hidden caches of resources, retrieving them is a high priority for him.

The second is the total domination of Vaasa. He plays the part of a loyal patriot, but he thinks that the Ironfell Council has 12 more members than it needs. He cannot move openly against them, but has several plans in motion to incite a civil war that will tear the Council apart.

The third, and his ultimate long term goal is to destabilize the surrounding regions and take them by force. He has agents working on hundreds of plots , some as far afield as Cormyr and the Dalelands

The man known as Lishkah Ehravic shuns large fortified strongholds (for now) in favor of a string of secret hideouts and safe houses spread throughout all of Vaasa. He maintains a headquarters in the Town of Darmshall that looks like a row of terrace houses from the front. He controls several small mines strung intermittently along the Galena mountains all under different names. He has various "business ventures" abroad also, including (but not limited to) small trading costers in Suzail and Yhaunn as well as mercenary companies in Helgabal and Mulmaster. He even has agents operating a smuggling ring out of the ruins of Zhentil Keep. He has been known to slip out of Vaasa occasionally to visit various interests abroad

The man known as Lishkah Ehravric has no armies, no hordes of clanking armored soldiers follow in his wake, but he has spies in every city in Vaasa and many others in the surrounding regions. He also created and controls the Iron Cloaks, effectively Vaasas secret police, they silence any dissent against the Council. He has handpicked every member of the force and they are loyal to him above all else. He is unusual among the other councilors in that he (privately) forbids the worship of Bane among his followers for reasons that he keeps to himself

The man known as Lishkah Ehravic takes great pains to conceal his appearance, he is just under six feet tall, has dark hair, cold dark eyes and carries himself with a sense of total confidence. His lower face is kept concealed with a cloth mask. He wears black leather armor, carries a rapier on one hip and a rod on the other and usually wears a voluminous black cloak with a hood pulled over his head.

Who is Lishkah Ehravic? He could be the villian of a paragon tier adventure or an unusual patron for a group. He is obviously a figure from before the Spellplague, but who? (It should be fairly obvious to most who he is in my game :P but you can tailor his origin to fit your own game). Can the heroes discover his identity? What will be the consequences if the succeed?

I didn't come up with a long detailed description of this guy. I figure you could fill in the details as you please.

#11 Eranthis Falcata

This honey-tongued, epicene man is quite skilled those who know him poorly into thinking he's far less of a threat than he actually is--including some of his fellow council members. Much of the time, he comes off as preening, soft-voiced hedonist, but in truth he has a nasty and unpredictable temper. Eranthis controls most of his followers with fear (those who displease him risk winding up in his entensive, underground garden wherein he raises plants that feed on human--or humanoid--flesh), but he is not incapable of growing attached to things. He loves his companion rage drake, Borion, and is known to speak soothingly to it when he's not exhorting it to kill someone.

I'm willing to bet King Gareth's wife, Lady Christine would fit one of these seats nicely. Always seemed a little to stubborn about any threat that faced her control of the Kingdom. Or that which threatend her grip on the King's ear.

Skagi has no allies within the Ironfell Council. Several times he openly showed animosity towards other lords of Vaasa. What has kept him in position despite the harsh demeanor are the war forces under his stony fist, which the Voice of Telos considers quite invaluable. Some vindicators have noticed that Skagi knows when to stop his outbursts of hate and not to push too far. Skagi, like Ivor Chernin in western Galenas, knows that the real potential for amassing armies lies in the mountains, with nonhuman population greatly outnumbering the inhabitants of Vaasa. That's why he has taken control of his ancestral lands in the southwestern Earthspur mountains.

From a bowshot distance Skagi could be mistaken for a typical stone giant. Except for the Ironfell grafts that were put to replace parts of his undead skin. The grafts are fused with the body in a way that it appears like an iron armor. His eyes that glow like molten stone and elongated canines reveal the otherworldy aspect of Skagi. He wears a huge ancestral warhammer. The head of the weapon was later carved with ram-skull looking runes. These ornaments were placed more than a century ago by his father to simbolize the union with the Witch-king. Skagi was born from the union of the giant king, Skalkong, and one of the lilitus of Orcus brought to ''serve'' him. Among the stone giant tribes Skagi is known only as Skalson, which means ''son of the Skull''.

In the Year of the Serpent Skalkong was slain along with other Zhengyi's forces. Skagi's mother fled to Thanatos only to be destroyed by the servants of Kiaransalee. Skagi doesn't know whether she is alive, but hates her for abandoning him. This passion rivals the feeling he has for humans who are the usual target of his curses and blames. The cooperation of Skagi and other warlock knights is often impossible. The Voice of Telos is particularly abhorring, what a nerve this little creature has. Skagi finds blasphemous that a human serves as the Voice of the primordial when he is such an obvious, perfect candidate. He intended to crush his petty skull every time he was in the Temple-city. He's not sure why he didn't, his memory is confusing. Certainly not out of fear. There is always the next time, if not, humans are very short-lived.

Decades before Spellplague Skagi lived as an outcast among the desolate crags of the northern Earthspur mountains. Today that region borders the Marches of Tan Mu Rong. Due to his demonic nature Skulson was banished from the huslyder (family, clan). If he had refused he would be stoned to death. The remaining foul servants of Orcus suffered that fate. Skulson was forced to forget his lineage all the way to Annam, which is a very important aspect of giant's indentity and pride. First years of the exile were the most harsh, often being on the brink of survival. Skagi developed his hunting skills and a particular taste for the humans of the White Worm tribe. In the Year of Blue Fire, during the night when a star fell in the wilderness of Vaasa, a barbarian champion known as the Spirit-hunter battled the giant. Skagi was knocked unconscious and would surely be finished off by the warrior of Tempos. In his dreams the giant heard the primordial calling and made a pact for his life. He destroyed the surprised human with a blast of starfire. Intangible spirit in the shape of a remorhaz detached from the dead barbarian's body and flew in the direction of the Great Glacier.

Skagi searched for the source that spoke in his dreams. Upon reaching the site he found that humans had already defiled the place by their presence. He furiously attacked them but was forced to retreat before numerous eldritch blasts. In the next several years he continued the attacks and was repelled each time. He discovered that he could gather small armies of his kin and goblinoids with relative ease. The Temple-city grew became more stronger after every assault.

One day he came with the biggest force assembled since the days of Zhengyi. Their bodies were enhanced with Ironfell. Then you could find Ironfell scattered throughout the plains of Vaasa. Warlocks seemed doomed. Surprisingly, Skagi bowed to the Voice of Telos and became a member of the Ironfell Council. The giant was different, cold and calculating, very rarely showing his true emotions.

In his quest for gaining an edge over warlocks Skagi was ready to make all the neccessary sacrifices. He made other pacts. In the end the cost was his soul. Biela Rogha, a hag inhabitating one of the bottomless, icy bogs in the south of Vaasa, offered to fulfill his dreams and in return she claimed his soul. She devoured it, except for a part that holds the connection to Telos. Occasionally, when she needs it or not, Skagi's old personality resurfaces in rage. The wounds of the soul transformed his body into a cairn, an undead giant. The enemies of Skagi find his mind impossible to read. The hag replaced slow and stony parts of his body with the flesh of Telos which made him more perilous. The same process is performed in the creation of soldiers.

One time Skagi and his forces were passing through the lands of Vasilii Ivanov Gubin and the giant had one of the moments of madness after seeing a human village. They compensated the slaughtered village with the equal amount of soldiers. But Vasilii still holds a grudge complaining that he needed them alive. Fat ****.

Skagi's realm is located in southwestern Vaasa, covering Earthspur mountains and a few dozen miles of swampland towards the interior of the country. The inhabitants, mostly giants, goblinoids and similar monsters, call this realm Skalheim. Skalson's immense fortress (a.k.a. Skalfesting) is so high in the mountains that no mortal army would ever dare to reach it. Most of Skalheim is quite isolated and Skagi allows himself many things that other vindicators, being closer to the Voice of Telos, do not. When he conquered the land, he made sure that all sacred stone cairns built in honor of Skoraeus, King of Rock, are twisted and defiled. Skalson never forgot his exile. Priests of Skoraeus died in terrible tortures. As a replacement Skagi introduced the Cult of White Death. The cult that mostly revolves around funeral rites is enforced by the dodmazîn (giant deathpriests). Those who are about to die are taken to the bog, where they die peacefully by freezing in their sleep. Then their spirits unite with the primordial spirit of Telos. Well, that's just propaganda. What really happens is that the souls are taken to fiendish worlds, where Biela Rogha uses them as currency. That is all she cares for, the fresh flow of souls. Bloodstone profit may be useful in this world, mainly for taking care of Tan Mu Rong's collectors, but it's nothing compared to the traffic of souls. Eventually she plans to expand to the whole country and supplant the warlocks with her own covey of thirteen. She is very careful and able to wait for centuries. Souless bodies are transformed beyond recognition and animated by the living iron of Telos into Skagi's soldiers.

Biela Rogha's main concerns are keeping Skagi's temper in check and masking the eyes of spies and occassional visiting luminaries, religious fanatics who would certainly object against the practices of the Cult. Sometimes she allows Skagi to carry out his plan. He united with Tan Mu Rong against the White Worm barbarians, his ancient enemies. Before the attack the easterner wanted to check if it's possible to tax them. Skagi ate the Tan's messenger after hearing the suggestion leaving the matter unresolved. Skalson intended to invade the lands of Thar and beyond into the human lands of Moonsea. Armies were ready to descend down the mountains. However the hag's divinations had revealed possible unfavorable consequences involving Lishakah Ehravic and the war was postponed.

Tan Mu Rong is not Vassa-born; in fact, he wasn’t born in Faerûn at all. He hails from far-off Shou-Lung, and claims to have been a Mandarin there. He does not speak of his past except to say he left willingly, hearing the call of Telos, but others guess that he was driven from the lands of the Celestial Empire for some wretched misdeed. Whatever the case, he has demonstrated his bureaucratic skills and keen analytical mind to his fellow knights time and again, and was put in-charge of the Kingdom’s finances since soon after his arrival. He considers taxes and their procurement his life’s work, and takes great pleasure in squeezing every red copper from the peasants, who simply call him “The Collector”.

When he first came to Vassa, through Narfell and across the northern tundra of the Hordelands, he went straight to Tomb of Telos located beneath the Temple-city. The guards – for whatever reason – simply allowed him to pass, but the few Council Members present stood to bar his way… until the Voice of Telos spoke, and told them to stand down. Kneeling before the alter, he renounced all former ties and swore his allegiance to the Primordial, and to the shock of the attending members the Voice of Telos knighted him on the spot! No explanantion was ever given, and none dare to question the will of Telos.

The Collector’s unprecedented rise to power is not the only mystery surrounding this strangely calm man from the east. The right side of his face is covered with a mask in the style of the Samurai of the Island Kingdoms of Kara-Tur. Although its frightening Demonic visage has not changed since his arrival, the material it is constructed from has – what was once the apparently broken half of a normal mask is now a cleanly wrought one made from Ironfell. Aside from its composition, the only other change apparent from the original is an earring – a loop of dark, crystalline Iron and the symbol of his devotion to Telos. He has taken to wearing the style of armor of the West (and that of the other Warlock Knights), but retains one other piece of regalia from his Eastern heritage – A katana sword he wears upon his back with a strange, black blade. Although he still doffs the accepted weapons of a Warlock Knight – an Ironfell shortsword on his left hip and a Baton (mace) of authority on his right – he almost never draws them, preferring to rely on his own, ancestral weapon. Once, while trying to pry money from a village mayor that the man simply did not have, Tan Mu Rong drew the sword and severed the man’s head in a single stroke, saying only that he would “take this in payment”. Rumors abound concerning the swords powers, and some say it can cut through ANYTHING, even energy.

Upon acceptance, and aside from his financial duties, he was granted the undesirable position of ‘Lord of the Western Marches’. As with everything else the man does, he calmly took to his new role and carved out a large swath of land for himself and Vassa in the Frozen wastes bordering The Ride and The Tortured land, around Tóu Lóng Lake – named for it’s shape (literally ‘Dragon’s Head’). His Magnificent Citadel sits on an island near the western shore, connected by a narrow land-bridge during the frigid winter months, but becomes a swampy ford during the brief Vassan summer. The keep houses one of the finest collections of Art and Literature in the northeast – another reason for his nickname, “The Collector” - but very few people have ever gotten to see his private museum and library, for he entertains few visitors, keeping mostly to himself and saying very little, except to issue commands to his underlings. The one visitor he does see often, however, is the enigmatic “Mistress of the Great Glacier”, Iyraclea, with whom he’s reached an amicable accord and mutually beneficial relationship, between her realm and that of Vassa. Whispered rumors are exchanged around the council about this unlikely ‘friendship’, but most just laugh-off any that the two are amorous, given the cold, dour personalities of both.

Tan Mu Rong takes to his position of March Warden as seriously as he does overseeing Vassa’s wealth, and has twice repelled incursions by Ride Barbarians trying to retake the lands surrounding the lake. The only time anyone has seen him smile is during one such battle, wherein he drew his exotic sword and waded through the barbarians like a peasant threshing wheat. As for his past, even Lishkah Ehravic has trouble finding out anything substantial about the man – all forms of scrying have failed, and he has found it nearly impossible to place any spies in Tan Rong’s Duchy, due to the man’s keen, discerning mind. He has sent two of his best operatives into the east, along separate paths, in hopes of uncovering something he can use against the enigmatic foreigner, but he has thus-far not received word from either of the two, and now fears them lost. As for the other Warlock Knights – they tend to just ignore Tan Mu Rong, even when he is present, and the man’s unnerving silence during most meetings further enforces this situation. Most of them would rather not be bothered with running what they feel is the ‘drudge work’ of the kingdom, and they are more then happy to leave the Easterner to his methodical bookkeeping.

This weak chinned and pale watery-eyed mass of corpulent flesh clad in fine dark velvets and sable façade hides a hideous aspect that is known only within the Ironfell Council.
Underneath the perfumed fineries there is more to Vasilii than meets the public eye, that being his partially developed vestigal sibling Ivanov. While Vasilii is the public face it is Ivanov who is the master as he rides his twin torso like a foul malignant tumor. Masters of extracting information under the most vile of methods and with appetites even more so, Vasilii Ivanov Gubin is the bogeyman of the hushed whispers told around the campfires and hearths of Vaasa. A devil in the skin of a man some whisper, his obscene fleshy mass the result of dark cannibalistic orgies frequented by infernal beings.

Rumored to be a practitioner of the darkest Art with the ability to break even the most iron willed hero, it is to Tower Gubin that those who have failed or displeased the Voice are sent, never again to be seen. The villagers who live in the shadow of the stark white tower exist in an agony of constant fear and despair that their young daughters and sons will catch the eye of Vasilii and his ‘appetite’ and be brought to serve the Warlock Knight. There are fewer and fewer children in the countryside that surrounds Tower Gubin of late and fearful families try to hide their newborns or flee the region if they can.

When children go missing from their beds in the still of the night rest assured that somewhere in Tower Gubin their screams are still echoing in the dark.

Nothing goes to waste within Tower Gubin and if it is not later used for food or other resources it ends up on the work tables in laboratories of Vasilii Ivanov Gubin. Here is where Ivanov gets to treat himself to a few of his appetites, the creation of life. The children of the surrounding land and those that are bred within the pristine white walls of Tower Gubin are a favorite of Ivanov and he cares for them as only a father can.

Several creations lurk within the tower, rarely seen outside of its confines unless requested by The Voice of Telos or in an isolated village in a test of abilities. Many of the creations are prepared to serve the Voice of Telos while others exist to continue to serve Tower Gubin.

The powerful scent of preservative fluids and spices with a hint of rot is all one usually notices before the Brood Swarm comes crawling and scrabbling from the shadows, that and the reflected light in the green catlike eyes of the multitude. Small forms teeming over each other in a wave of horror that moves along the floor, walls and ceiling pour forth intent on devouring its prey. Its hunger the blessing of the father, one that can never be filled only sated for a time.

Jonmarc is a charismatic and strikingly handsome figure, made more so by the ever apparent smile on his face and probably one, if not the most recognizable member of Ironfells infamous 13. This is not because he is the most powerful, nor even the most cruel (though he is by no means merciful).; it is merely the fact that he is the most flamboyant and showy of the bunch. This is achieved by his habit of strolling to most all public meetings of the council, where he is easily spotted by his distinctive color changing ironrfell chainmail, and his even more characteristic hobble, the source of his nickname. The cause of Jonmarc’s uneven gait is the well of never ending gossip through a lot of Warlock circles. This is goaded on by Jonmarc telling a different story every time a green Warlock Knight asks of it’s making. The story ranges from an everlasting battle scare given to him by an Angel on the celestial plane itself, a Yochol’s acid which stained him in the palace of a Matron mother herself, or a very, very rough romp with one of the prettier Lasses in Silvermoon, only Telos and the Voice themselves know the truth. His entire bearing and mannerism seems more befit to a courtly prince of Waterdeep then that of a Vassa Warlock Knight.

The Limper makes his money in various locations but most of his coin comes from commissions. The commissions in question is because he is also known as the “Ambassador” of Vassa’s goods. When there is a great deal of importance riding on any trade agreement, Jonmarc is sent to help make it happen. His undeniable charm, wit and manners assure his acquaintances they are in the presence of royalty. Not only this but for all his Jovialness and manners, The Limper is not as intimidating as any of the other 12 members of Ironfell’s council. Being underestimated helps the Non-Vassa end of the transaction feel safe, let them think they are getting the better end of the deal, that the oh so scary Warlock Knight’s are no more than an overblown rumor. All his other funds come from his independently run trading corporation. That is, he is a peddler of flesh. He sells the majority of his battle earned livestock (humans, elves, Halflings, dwarves, etc.) to fellow Knights, the Shade Enclave, Thay’s wizards, and underdark contacts. Slave trade is always a face to face business, and Face to face is where Jonmarc excels.

Contrary to many of his Brethren he keeps no standing army, but instead spreads his resources through the Vassa population in sleeper cells. Each cell has a permissible business front, and a work force numbering from half a dozen to a score of well trained and well disciplined men. For every 5,000 people in the area he keeps about seven of these cells active. Each cell can contact every other single cell under Jonmarc Hathsin’s control via a specially made Ironfell ring of connecting, but doesn’t know the actual whereabouts, and/or physical description of anybody outside their own cell. This is for security purposes. No cell can flag another cell if ousted.
Jonmarc is known to always have two hidden tails/bodyguards at all times, but has an additional four that have never been noticed, all for security sake. The reason for hiding his bodyguards is another thing that makes him so well known. All the lowly peasants who spot him in pubic assume him alone, even though he is always to be in constant danger, that falls to him by his Council seat. Always more posturing.

Jonmarc’s rise to power is a well known one. And one he still flaunts about. His life before the council was that of assassination. He was a wanderer who gained prestige in his stylized manner of killing. He was always known to his mark before there death. He would meet with them, use his charm to thrust himself into their life in some way and from their killed them via poison, or slipping a feral animal into their room, and more ways to prove that he didn’t have to do it. The Limper let them think he a friend right to the very end. Before ascending to the council though he was given the names of thirteen people by the Voice of Telos himself. Thirteen people who had to die before he took his seat. Thirteen clerics, each of a different god, each to end their days in Jonmarc Hathsin’s chosen way. Supposedly he sat through an entire service to Corellon next to a mark and her lover, before he slipped a dead magic pellet into the latter’s belt pouch and watched them as they were beaten to death down the street by hired thugs, helpless without their magic. Another rumor stats he somehow started a house war in a drow city just to see his Mark, the matron mother of one house, dead.

A funny side note; Jonmarc has no land to his name and therefore may be classified as an Executioner. A point which he is mocked by the other Council members for, even if he has some of his most secret and well trained sleeper cells in their innermost garrisons and guard houses.

We need at least one female, and at least one non-human (although all of these guys are probably at least a little bit demon by now).

I was thinking Drow, but that might be too over-done for FR, so maybe something unlikely, like a Halfling. We already have an assassin though... Hmmmm... Genasi?

A Tiefling would be a little too easy...

I'd do another, but I'd rather each one be done by a different person. Also, as I do the map (yes, I am working on one for this region, considering how much work is going into these write-ups), I'll be outlining the various Lords domains, so something to that efect will help.

One last thing - I have learned that Iyraclea DIED during the Rage of Dragons. Assume for now that for all intents-and-purposes she still looks exactly the same - alive and well - but probably isn't. Ice is an amazing preservative. ;)

I have it on good word that she is indeed making a comeback, so I wasn't far off, after all.

Oh and I guess a shade wouldn't be bad. That would be starting pretty early though. 4e for the realms isn't even out yet and we would be getting started on the favorite protaganist (Is it just me or are the Shades going to become the 4e conterparts of the 3.x Drow?).

IOne last thing - I have learned that Iyraclea DIED during the Rage of Dragons. Assume for now that for all intents-and-purposes she still looks exactly the same - alive and well - but probably isn't. Ice is an amazing preservative. ;)

I have it on good word that she is indeed making a comeback, so I wasn't far off, after all.

Now we just need a female - perhaps a Crinti (Half-Drow?) abandoned by both Lolth and Loviatar (maybe she was one of those Betrayer-priests, and she was burning the candle at both ends?)

I might do another - this place does need a Torturer's Guild.

And who better to extract information from 'detractors' then someone who really enjoys her work?

@Rinon - I was actually surprised that you didn't create a woman NPC (despite yours being a bit flamboyent). ;)

@ everyone - I'm getting a really good picture of this cesspool of corruption now, but until we get the FRCG its going to be hard to give any detail to the 'southern Lords' (especially the ones bordering Damara- we have no clue whats going on there).

Maybe we could get BRJ to write one up, since he knows whats going on, he can 'tap dance' around whatever we are not supposed to know without violating 4e canon.

I was toying with the idea of updating mine with a bit more background about his dynamic with the others. Also stats, I was thinking high end paragon tier (17-20) Warlock multiclassed into Rogue, but im not sure If I build him like a monster or go the big time NPC route and give him a full set of feats and powers. Any thoughts?

The Katana is drawn using the Iaidō technique. Part of this NPC's mystique is that although he professes to be from Kara-Tur and an ex-Mandarin, he shows several signs of actually coming from (and being trained in) the Island nations off the coast.

A person who was once soley a bureaucrat should not be so good at handling weapons. ;)

I was toying with the idea of updating mine with a bit more background about his dynamic with the others. Also stats, I was thinking high end paragon tier (17-20) Warlock multiclassed into Rogue, but im not sure If I build him like a monster or go the big time NPC route and give him a full set of feats and powers. Any thoughts?

The 4e rules do not lend themselves very well to NPCs having previous levels in something, does it?

Hmmmm...

Further fleshing out each entry is a great idea - I plan to provide Iyraclea's new history as well, and maybe a few others from Tan Mu Rong's personal 'circle'.

If you're doing a female, I don't think I'll go the Crinti route then (too bad, because I had her fully formed in my mind). Maybe have her as just another operative, working just beneath Lishkah Ehravic, but not a full member of the Council (just a high-ranking vindicator).

Also thinking about a Calimshan ex-patriot who left during Memnon's Reign of Fire. A guy in a Turbin duel-wielding Scimitars is just so Capt. Nemo/League of Extraordinary gentleman. Maybe I'll just make him one of my underlings.

I always thought we could have a pair of siblings on the Council. Maybe twins; a boy and a girl. Kind of twisted in there own ways. Sis could be the evil pladin type who gets her kicks from tyranny and total dommination and the brother a flurishin sorcerer with an effinity for Cold magic. They could also be close to each other. Not that they aren't super evil and caniving, or that they have any merciful feelings for each other, but you know.. close enough that spectators may wonder if they aren't having a incestic like get togethers.. Adding more to the Gross-nasty factor. Nothing like evil twins who have a thing for each other.

I always thought we could have a pair of siblings on the Council. Maybe twins; a boy and a girl. Kind of twisted in there own ways. Sis could be the evil pladin type who gets her kicks from tyranny and total dommination and the brother a flurishin sorcerer with an effinity for Cold magic. They could also be close to each other. Not that they aren't super evil and caniving, or that they have any merciful feelings for each other, but you know.. close enough that spectators may wonder if they aren't having a incestic like get togethers.. Adding more to the Gross-nasty factor. Nothing like evil twins who have a thing for each other.

Really thinking of Cruel Intention on crack. Manipulative, hurtful, spice with the D&D flavor, and no happy ending. The goal is to make people feel uncomfortable around them. Even the really twisted at heart. An edge is an edge no matter what shade it turns.

maybe even give them some sort of power, but only when they are in proximity to each other (something small, like telepathy).

Anyhow, while hunting down some references in a Dragonlance tome earlier (thanks LK), I came across a great pic here in the art section of the DLCS book -

I figured I'd post it because it has the sort of flavor we are going for here - they are called the Knights of Neraka.

The Map Galllery is down ATM, so it was a real pain in the butt backwards-engineering the link I had to a different pic in the same book just to post that, but I think it was worth the effort. I'm liking that guy on the right as the Voice of Telos.

#6. Telvorn Ironspade A.K.A. the Fist of Telos
The death of their goddess left many of the Gray Dwarves lost and bereft of faith. Telvorn was one of those who's clan was splintered after that tragedy, as the priests that had led the clan lost their powers, new factions evolved, and Telvorn found himself on the side of one of the less successful groups. Forced to flee his clans home, he wandered the north, making his way as a mercenary.
Travelling through the northern regions of Vaasa, he came across a small band of humans in a fight with a pair of giants. Thinking to make a profit by rescuing the humans, he waded into the fray. His assistance proved to be the deciding factor in the battle, and most of the humans managed to survive. Unfortunately the band turned on him immediately afterwords, claiming he was a dwarven spy, sent from one of the clans on the Great Glacier. He managed to not only hold the humans off, but took a few out. The leader of the humans realized that they could only win this battle at too great a cost, and called for a truce. After a bit of tense negotiations Telvorn convinced the humans that he was no spy, and they convinced him to come back with them to their headquarters, after all why waste such a competent warrior.
He met with the one they call the Voice of Telos, and was shown that the warlock knights were a perfect replacement for his lost clan. He devoted himself to service, and soon became the head of the Voices personal gaurd. A ruthless warrior, who wears a suit of spiked scale mail and wields a mace and shield. Scars crisscross his grayish skin, and he is missing his left ear and the tip of his nose (which has been broken many times). His beard is gathered up by an Iron ring, and he has tattooed the Sigil of the Knights on his bald head. He is a living weapon, existing just to do battle with those who would attempt to harm his adopted clan.

Only her orange eyes and too-pointed teeth betray Varshyl's mixed heritage. Born the daughter of a human wizard and his orc slave-wife, Varshyl was given the best possible education, trained both in magic and in the skills of a human noble: she's an accomplished dancer and musician and quite capable of holding her own at any gathering of nobles in Waterdeep or Suzail - or in any festhall in Calimport.

Until her 14th year she believed that her father nurtured her talents out of parental love and duty: her world was shattered when, visiting a mage fair with him, she was presented to an old rival as fulfillment of a wager. Her father's proof that a half-orc could be as accomplished as a human. His rival, a Red Wizard, handed over the book of spells he had risked and was to take possession of his new slave that night.

Unfortunately for the two mages, her mother had not neglected to teach her darker, bloodier skills. She slit both their throats that night as they drunkenly taunted her.

Escaping with some treasure and the spell book, she spent a decade with assorted adventuring bands before pledging herself to the Pact of the Iron Ring.

In her middle years, she is a very handsome, strong boned, highly sensual woman with dark hair and startling orange eyes. Normally clad in fashionable court gowns carefully chosen to accentuate her charms, in battle she wears a intricately engraved suit of ironfell plate armour. She is a powerful wizard, preferring either enchantments when subtlety is called for and impressive spells that deal massive damage in battle when it's not.

She used a mixture of charm and precise cruelty to rise in the ranks and now rules a substantial fiefdom in the south of Vaasa. She despises the pointless brutality of many of her peers, preferring not to waste resources unnecessarily and dispensing justice harshly but fairly - to her way of thinking anyway. On the other hand, she will do whatever is necessary to achieve her aims. A few years ago she decimated a village who persistently failed to make their quotas, sold the survivors into slavery and resettled the land with half-orcs. The impaled corpses of men, women and children still decorate the fields in the region.

Varshyl is the Vindicator most likely to be called upon when the rulers of Vaasa require diplomacy rather than outright intimidation. She is an effective, disciplined operative capable of reaching agreements with groups who deeply dislike the Warlock Knights and capable of insisting that those agreements are upheld by the Vindicators.

Her four children - two sons and two daughters, all by different anonymous fathers - act as her elite bodyguard and advisors. All are Warlock Knights in their own right and rule their own domains as fellthanes in fief to her.

Though few people are able to resist an invitation to dally with her, few survive the experience for long: she considers ex-lovers to be unacceptable risks to her safety.